On a more public note, I’m thankful that our elected leaders have done reasonably good jobs dealing with the aftermath of the storm. I hope they can fulfill their promises to renew and rebuild.

I am grateful the president was re-elected, and I hope he commits himself to a continued recovery for the country, more jobs for those who are out of work and peace in the world. The challenges sometimes seem insurmountable. As I write, militants in Gaza are shelling areas of Tel Aviv, Israel. We still have young women and men in Afghanistan. The Arab Spring has chilled. I hope our leaders can summon the wisdom to bring us through this turmoil.

I am thankful that since the election, there have been murmurings of conciliation and cooperation from both sides of the political spectrum. I hope that, next year, I can say I’m thankful for the wisdom and leadership of all of our elected representatives. Dreaming is allowed on Thanksgiving, isn’t it?

Also, I’m thankful for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who appear four nights a week on Comedy Central with political satire that helps keep my moral compass steady. Their dead-on humor pierces the puffed-up rhetoric coming from Washington. Nightly they tell the emperor that he has no clothes, and nightly they make me laugh. Both shows went dark for three nights following Hurricane Sandy, but when they turned the lights back on, we got the message: The show must go on.

On a personal note, I thank whatever stars may be for a place to gather this Thanksgiving, and for the faces that will beam at me from around the holiday table. The loves of my life will come together and eat turkey and hold their bellies and laugh at old jokes.

With the sorrow of recent losses still in mind, I know I will feel especially thankful for the gathering of loved ones and the delicious Thanksgiving meal. The real treasure of our lives shines in the faces of the sisters and brothers and mothers and fathers and children around the Thanksgiving table.

Comments

Everyone, please write Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray at katemurray@tohmail.org and ask her to donate 75% of the General Services Postage budget (of $2.4 million dollars) to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, or JUST FORWARD THIS message to katemurray@tohmail.org.

Kate Murray currently sends out about 25 mailings per year. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzq67LIQ3dw for more information about Kate's mailings.

Ask her to give up some of her mailings to help the residents of the Town of Hempstead that were devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

Instead of cutting down trees to make paper for mailings, the Town of Hempstead should use that wood to make houses for the people that lost theirs. Please forward this message to everyone you know.